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Bead theory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The bead theory is a disproved hypothesis that genes are arranged on the chromosome like beads on a necklace. This theory was first proposed by Thomas Hunt Morgan after discovering genes through his work with breeding red and white eyed fruit flies.[1] According to this theory, the existence of a gene as a unit of inheritance is recognized through its mutant alleles. A mutant allele affects a single phenotypic character, maps to one chromosome locus, gives a mutant phenotype when paired and shows a Mendelian ratio when intercrossed. Several tenets of the bead theory are worth emphasizing :- 1. The gene is viewed as a fundamental unit of structure, indivisible by crossing over. Crossing over take place between genes ( the beads in this model ) but never within them. 2. The gene is viewed as the fundamental unit of change or mutation. It changes in toto from one allelic form into another; there are no smaller components within it that can change. 3. The gene is viewed as the fundamental unit of function ( although the precise function of gene is not specified in this model ). Parts of a gene, if they exist cannot function. Guido Pontecorvo continued to work under the basis of this theory until Seymour Benzer showed in the 1950s that the bead theory was not correct.[2] He demonstrated that a gene can be defined as a unit of function. A gene can be subdivided into a linear array of sites that are mutable and that can be recombined. The smallest units of mutation and recombination are now known to be correlated with single nucleotide pairs.

References

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  1. ^ Morgan, Thomas Hunt (1910). "Sex Limited Inheritance in Drosophilia" (PDF). Science. 32 (812): 120–122. Bibcode:1910Sci....32..120M. doi:10.1126/science.32.812.120. PMID 17759620 – via ESP.org.
  2. ^ Siddoqi, Obaid (1999). "Guido Pontecorvo (1907-1999)". Journal of Genetics. 78 (3): 171–173. doi:10.1007/BF02934463. S2CID 31960838.
  • BENZER S (1956). "Genetic fine structure and its relation to the DNA molecule". Brookhaven Symp Biol (8): 3–5. PMID 13293416.
  • An Introduction to Genetic Analysis 7th edition Griffiths AJF, Miller JH, Suzuki DT, et al.

New york W.H. Freeman;2000